Monday Open Thread: Heading to the Fediverse and Mastodon

By Jeralyn, Section Colorado News
Posted on Mon Nov 21, 2022 at 10:20:09 AM EST
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I'm trying to figure out Mastodon, the "fediverse" alternative to Twitter that journalists, media sites big and little, analysts and bloggers are joining en masse while abandoning Twitter. TalkLeft's account is here. Hopefully over Thanksgiving I can figure out how to properly use the place. It's very enticing, and friendly, and free. But not particularly intuitive to me. It's like switching to MAC when you've always been a Windows person, it takes some getting used to. [More...]

I have had Twitter accounts for more than a decade, and I see no need to delete them. First, I haven't written a tweet in years. I just read other people. But I'm fed up with Twitter's ads and the insertion of other people's likes (which you can't turn off) into my feed and Twitter constant irrelevant suggestions as to who I should read or follow. I know who I want to read, I don't want Twitters's help. Plust I'm not really interested in other's opinions, I just want the news. Also, whatever anyone writes on Twitter will show up in some search engine which just gives me the creeps.

So while Mastodon may not afford more privacy (it's not encrypted), it does seem smaller and free of radical righty types and ultra-conservatives and Donald Trump supporters. And people so far have been posting things I''m interested in reading. It feels more like a living room, which of course, is why I started TalkLeft to begin with.

So head on over to Mastodon and give it a try. Let us know in comments how to find you there!

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

< Boebert v Frisch - Colorado's 3rd District | Happy Thanksgiving and Open Thread >

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Monday Open Thread: Heading to the Fediverse and Mastodon | 73 comments (73 topical)

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I signed up (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 21, 2022 at 02:02:24 PM EST

And followed TalkLeft

I agree. Not particularly intuitive

: Ha (none / 0) (#3)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 21, 2022 at 02:04:34 PM EST

I searched for Twitter replacements

I Joined Mastodon And All It Took Was My Sanity And Self-Esteem
I tooted, but I didn't like it.

Lyle Denniston Part one (5.00 / 2) (#10)
by jmacWA on Tue Nov 22, 2022 at 06:55:34 AM EST

of a three part series on Moore v Harper which he characterizes as a direct assault on Democracy ran today.

Thanks to Peter G for pointing us to Denniston, he most certainly does make things understandable.

: Series concluded today (none / 0) (#61)
by jmacWA on Thu Nov 24, 2022 at 06:14:55 AM EST

I can see why this is characterized as a direct assault on democracy. Sadly, I am not sure we can trust the Federalist Society judges to rule impartially. It seems pretty clear to me that the current thinking in conservative circles would want to push the 'independent state legislature' theory since they control more states. I really hope I am wrong about this, but I don't trust the conservative majority on the court to care about anything other than what their benefactors want.
The court has only itself to blame for my cynicism.

The Georgia Court of Appeals (5.00 / 1) (#20)
by KeysDan on Tue Nov 22, 2022 at 03:02:28 PM EST

Has denied Secretary of State Raffensperger's attempt to halt Counties from providing early voting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in the senate run- off between Senator Warnock and Walker.

The appeals court upheld the lower court's opinion. Raffensperger argued that Georgia law did not permit early voting immediately after a holiday.

Supreme Court (5.00 / 1) (#21)
by MO Blue on Tue Nov 22, 2022 at 03:37:52 PM EST

clears way for House to get Trump's tax returns.


The House can't do much but get them (none / 0) (#40)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 22, 2022 at 07:29:30 PM EST

and give them to the democratic Senate for oversight 🙂


: Which makes the GA race critical (5.00 / 1) (#41)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 22, 2022 at 07:50:56 PM EST

51 senators would mean majorities on all committees. Which means a lot for setting agendas and issuing subpoenas and all kinds of stuff.

On Wednesday, Nov 23 (none / 0) (#57)
by KeysDan on Wed Nov 23, 2022 at 01:26:21 PM EST

the Georgia Supreme Court denied the request of the SOS and Republican National Committee to overturn the rulings of the two lower courts that permitted early, in-person voting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.


This is really something (5.00 / 1) (#25)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 22, 2022 at 04:51:15 PM EST

I get asked `Who's the most dangerous person in the world? Is it Chairman Kim, is it Xi Jinping?' The most dangerous person in the world is Randi Weingarten," Pompeo said.
"It's not a close call. If you ask, `Who's the most likely to take this republic down?' It would be the teacher's unions, and the filth that they're teaching our kids

In a twisted way I get demonizing drag queens. But teachers?

These (5.00 / 2) (#26)
by FlJoe on Tue Nov 22, 2022 at 05:03:59 PM EST

people are twisted, it sounds like the manifesto of a school shooter. I thought Pompeo was one of the quasi-sane ones.


: Pompeo (5.00 / 2) (#31)
by jondee on Tue Nov 22, 2022 at 05:41:44 PM EST

another one who, if you gave him an enema, could be buried in a shoe box..
He's also an Evangelical who's been quoted as saying "politics is a constant struggle until the Rapture."
What more of a tip-off do you need as to what we're dealing with?

: Pompeo came (5.00 / 2) (#33)
by KeysDan on Tue Nov 22, 2022 at 05:43:29 PM EST

to Congress as part of the tea party brigade and is a Dominionist and as wacky as they come. I note, too, that Pompeo skipped over. Putin as less dangerous than Randi Weingarten (also a dog whistle).

"...and the (5.00 / 1) (#29)
by KeysDan on Tue Nov 22, 2022 at 05:34:18 PM EST

filth they are reaching our kids". And what filth would that be? A question the interviewer needed to ask.

"...and they don't know math and reading and writing..". Maybe, the schools are teaching ... math and how to read and write.

Pompeo was fortunate that Trump's bombast and criminal activity eclipsed his and his wife's corruption during his tenure as Secretary of State. It did not get the attention it merited.


: He just put a target button n the back of (none / 0) (#34)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 22, 2022 at 05:52:02 PM EST

Randi Weingarten And I guess any teacher. What's wrong with these people

Republicans are intent on killing our democracy (5.00 / 1) (#38)
by MO Blue on Tue Nov 22, 2022 at 07:03:38 PM EST

July, 2022...ST. LOUIS--The Institute of Museum and Library Services announced today that St. Louis County Library of St. Louis, MO is one of six recipients of the 2022 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation's highest honor given to museums and libraries that make significant and exceptional contributions to their communities.

Now the Republican legislator are trying to ban books at our library. They build nothing that benefits everyday people. They just destroy every good thing that we have.


Trials take place (5.00 / 1) (#68)
by Peter G on Fri Nov 25, 2022 at 09:43:14 PM EST

in *court*rooms, I assume you meant to write, not "living rooms." But otherwise, I totally agree. Young adults who do terrible things often are survivors of extreme trauma, particularly in childhood. That sort of information is not going to come out in the news, but rather only during a trial or sentencing, at the earliest.

: Your right Peter (none / 0) (#74)
by Jeralyn on Wed Dec 07, 2022 at 06:49:53 PM EST

I just deleted the comment and will retype it here, swapping out living rooms and inserting courtrooms.
Very well said, Peter
Trials take place in courtrooms. Investigations take place in private. Grand Jury investigations are secret -- and remain so after the case is over. One reason is to protect the privacy and reputational rights of those not accused. Another is to protect the accused's right to a fair jury. If the entire jury pool is polluted by too many leaks or too much massive negative publicity, such that it is unreasonable to expect any juror would be able to put aside what s/he's heard, the trial may have to be moved. McVeigh was moved from Oklahoma to Colorado. Tsarnev (convicted of the Marathon bombing) should have been moved out of Mass (in my view).
The reason the media pumps the unofficial stuff so much is very simple: Guilt sells in America, innocence does not. Kind of ridiculous for a nation for which the foundational building block of its criminal justice system is the presumption of innocence.

The only thing that can stop a bad guy (none / 0) (#1)
by Peter G on Mon Nov 21, 2022 at 01:31:03 PM EST

with a loaded gun, apparently, is an angry, somewhat inebriated gay guy grabbing that gun and beating the bad guy with it.

He's straight. (5.00 / 1) (#42)
by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Nov 23, 2022 at 01:31:10 AM EST

He was at Club Q with his wife, daughter and daughter's boyfriend to see a friend of the daughter perform there. Sadly, the daughter's boyfriend was shot and killed. Two of the five fatalities were straight.

This is entirely the fault of Republicans and their hatemongering. WTF is wrong with them? If the only way they can win elections is to demonize others, mischaracterize them as an anti-American enemy, and gin up irrational outrage by pandering to people's worst fears and instincts, then that's a party which is beyond salvage and needs to be bludgeoned to political extinction before they destroy the country. It's either them or us, because they've made it perfectly clear that there is no us in them.

There was another mass shooting tonight in Chesapeake, VA. It's demoralizing.

:-(


: At least VA (none / 0) (#43)
by CaptHowdy on Wed Nov 23, 2022 at 07:35:06 AM EST

was not LGBT targeted. Walmart is not the place for that.

Legacy (none / 0) (#4)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 21, 2022 at 03:19:38 PM EST

The 22-year-old man arrested early Sunday as the suspected gunman in a deadly mass shooting at a LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado is the grandson of California state Assemblyman Randy Voepel (R), the San Diego Union Tribune reports.
Last year, Voepel faced criticism after he compared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to the American Revolutionary War.

The grandson (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by Jeralyn on Mon Nov 21, 2022 at 05:15:26 PM EST

threatened to blow up and kill his mother (The congressman's daughter). Big stand-off at the house, the DA decides not to charge him. What happens? He goes out gets a bigger boy toy.

Another case for providing more mental health care. When behavior falls so far outside the norm, something that is not normal is going on inside the person.

bq.. Anderson Aldrich is facing five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury, according to an online docket in El Paso County courts.

Court records show Aldrich is being held without bail. The docket does not reflect if Aldrich has retained an attorney.

p. A 22 year old with his malformed brain sitting backwards on his head will now spend his life in jail because he was unhappy and some trigger went off in his head.

Like the King Soopers killer, and the other young males who fall susceptible to crazy ideas, they leave such a trail of broken glass behind them and we all have to walk over it. The familiesand friends of the victims get cut the hardest.

R.I.P to the unfortunate souls who lost their lives. And to all the parents and siblings out there: If your loved one clearly needs help as this kid did a year ago, get it for them. Don't just watch them disintegrate and think they will get better.


: No doubt (none / 0) (#7)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 21, 2022 at 05:47:57 PM EST

many are the fruit of a family tree grown of hate and ignorance.
IMO they are too often not stopped or noticed because they live in a culture where "crazy ideas" are simply the norm.
They are only acting out the locker room talk they hear every day of their lives.

: Also this (none / 0) (#8)
by CaptHowdy on Mon Nov 21, 2022 at 06:03:39 PM EST

And to all the parents and siblings out there: If your loved one clearly needs help as this kid did a year ago, get it for them. Don't just watch them disintegrate and think they will get better.

This is sometimes not a simple thing. For example, I have a family member I have been concerned about, yeah - that kind of concerned, for a long time. He is a person life has delt a really sh!tty hand. Over the years he has grown increasingly more detached and angry. His FB feed is a dark stream of consciousness.
I've tried to bring this up with his parents and grandparents. A. They don't want to hear it and B. They don't really think it's a problem because they largely agree.
I've considered "other approaches" but the problem is he has multiple law enforcement in his immediate family.
I am invariably dismissed as the fussy old gay uncle. All I can say is if his name ends up in a headline it won't be because I was silent. And I dnt think it will get better.
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